Hi guys,
I basically feel like I'm at the beginning of my journey. Although I've been working to achieve my dream for 7 years now I have not much to show for and I didn't know why. But over the last 3 years I've some painful realizations and am now getting back on track. This lead me to reading the Millionaire Fastlane in 2 days and joining this forum.
I. The top layer: latest attempts
I'm from Germany and a web developer by trade and I really like solving problems. I've been working as a freelancer for years to keep myself and my family (wife and daughter) afloat. And I've been working on my own projects on the side. I've had a relatively successful Youtube channel but when they started banning political stuff it was banned. I have to admit that I was kind of a "starry-eyed idealist" and was only taking donations to outsource some of my video editing work. I made $3000 per month which was abysmal for my views but my "community" seemed not very profitable for advertisers - and neither for myself as I even tried my most timid monetization attemps.
When Youtube banned me I had the idea to "make me own platform". And that's basically what we did. A friend (that I paid) and I programmed it for over 3 years - as we are perfectionalists ... and it basically flopped. Well it didn't flp completely, it's still running, but I don't have much sensible monetization so it's running at a loss. And I'm still wondering what I'm going to do with it at about 90K monthly visits or if I should scrap it altogether. However I did a small successful crowdfunding for it in 2018 - about $70,000. But I invested so much of my own money that I'm somewhat biased because of the sunken costs ...
II. The second layer: milieu
Not to use excuses but to paint a cohesive picture: I grew up in Eastern Germany. I only experienced the socialist DDR for 7 years but the socialist mindset is still rather prevalent in many. And even in Germany in general socialism rather flourishes than vanishes. Anyways so I was an "inventor" as far back as I can think inventing small gadgets, having scientific and process ideas, but I was always shut down by my parents especially by my father with exactly the verbal "strokes" that MJ gives in the Millionaire Fastlane "That probably already exists" or "Dream on" or "You and your crazy ideas again" and sarcastically "Yes, the world is surely waiting for YOUR ideas". And I have to say that my parents are loving people so I also didn't get the "benefit" to get energy from quarrelling with my dad.
I had nowhere to look to. There were no shiny cars, basically ZERO millionaires (even as of 2020: 94% of millionaires live in West Germany and many of the millionaires in Eastern Germany have come here from the west), no millionaire mindset mentors and very very few entrepreneurs. And those who are, are really not, but either self-employed / freelancers or outsourced employees or "financial advisors" / MLM, you know the drill. So really I had NO ONE among my friends, family, acquaintances, classmates, college friends who were NOT on the "Sidewalk" or the "Slowlane" (I don't know the exact english words I read the book in German). Literally no one.
Also there is hefty financial envy in Eastern Germany. So if your car is too nice and parking in the wrong (socialist) neighborhood at the wrong time, it might not be stolen but rather be burnt to "show the rich". I know it's different in Western Germany but that's not where I grew up. And nowadays it's getting worse over there too due to basically almost socialists in power at the moment.
But I'm getting sidetracked. I just wanted to explain why it was hard for me to even break free of this "live modest, pay taxes, retired at 67 into your state sponsored golden years" mindset. There was no wealth which could inspire me, no cars, no marvellous houses, no big donations to the city, no one even with a "Fastlane Mindset". Not 99% mediocracy - at least in my vicinity - literally everything I could see that was not fiction was mediocracy. And fiction was fiction, basically "those people don't exist and are scoundrels anyways".
I have to admit though that through my several relocations (I moved about 14 times, because "I never found what I was looking for") I could have probably gotten in contact with millionaires and business mentors. But as my mindset was not set on this I didn't even consider. Also I had no radar to differentiate between people on the "Fastlane" and scammers. And this was a real danger too because in Eastern Germany people were neither business nor scam savvy so there are a lot of "business men" whose business still simply is to scam people or to outsmart them. So I at least knew that I knew too little about business and could've become a scam victim.
III. First steps
Basically YouTube offered me a different perspective - in particular American entrepeneurial influencers like Patrick Bet David. Although I didn't get that much value from his practical advice I at least "started to believe".
Here in Germany, especially in Eastern Germany - there's also still an Anti-American sentiment present in some parts of the population, because of the ongoing military presence since WW2, "Ami go home" is the sentiment. I say this because as soon as I was exposed to "the real American way" I immediately was way more attracted to the "founding" American ideology, freedom of expression, freedom of business, freedom or death, capitalism, entrepreneurship, pride for the nation and pride in one's accomplishments than ANYTHING German school or media or for that matter my social circle had EVER offered me in this (cultural) regard. I can't speak as an expert on Western Germany but in Eastern Germany those ideals mentioned are almost all "foreign". But me, I was very attracted to the "American spirit of enterprise", so there was the first movement in my mindset.
So I started a YouTube channel while still working as a freelancer and attracted a sizable audience (not big for todays standards, but in 2015 100K for a patriotic German YouTube channel was huge), but I was a marketing noob and even worse in business. At first I had some decent CPM but later it dropped dramatically. This might have been due to Youtube or Advertisers being more picky on political content, so I relied on donations to have at least something to show for on the channel and to pay an editor. But mainly I did it for idealism.
Later I realized: If you want to change / do something in the world you need money. I know, groundbreaking. But you wouldn't guess that at least in "my" community it was at least partially frowned upon that I asked for donations frequently. Here is someone who gives away content for free that the audience seems to love - at least according to comments and likes - but still some people complain heavily that I'm asking for donations.
In hindsight this community might actually have not been very profitable at all. Imagine the 5% super worst customers of a company gathered in one community ... I'm partially joking they still kept the channel afloat and donated about $70.000 to my project, I'm thankful to those few. But the rest ...
And about the project I didn't deliver on time (overpromised, underdelivered) and basically got character assassinated by competitors in this already very small market.
IV. Starting all over
I realize a lot of the mistakes I made. But I'm still not 100% sure that I have the right mindset to get onto the "Fastlane". I had to learn a lot of stuff the hard way. And I have to admit that I often was my worst enemy too.
I'm 39 now, not the youngest anymore but there's still power left to try, to DO again. But I don't want to be as stupid again as I was before. I don't want to fall into the same or similar traps. I've learnt a lot but I haven't got the confidence to fully trust myself, because I regard the Social Media project as a big failure (because it was a big financial loss, about 150K of my own money), because I didn't realize that "the market" I was working for really was no market at all. I even tried to educate people that "we" as a community need to think economically to gather some power and influence. Looking back it's a bit embarrassing to have been so delusional about my own situation and my own (non-existent) "business" in this market.
That's why I read the book "Millionaire Fastlane" and am educating myself on business topics now. And that's why I joined this community.
I hope I am welcome here and will grow with you fine ladies and gentlemen. And I hope I can give you some value as well!
Cheers and thanks for reading!
Hagen G.
I basically feel like I'm at the beginning of my journey. Although I've been working to achieve my dream for 7 years now I have not much to show for and I didn't know why. But over the last 3 years I've some painful realizations and am now getting back on track. This lead me to reading the Millionaire Fastlane in 2 days and joining this forum.
I. The top layer: latest attempts
I'm from Germany and a web developer by trade and I really like solving problems. I've been working as a freelancer for years to keep myself and my family (wife and daughter) afloat. And I've been working on my own projects on the side. I've had a relatively successful Youtube channel but when they started banning political stuff it was banned. I have to admit that I was kind of a "starry-eyed idealist" and was only taking donations to outsource some of my video editing work. I made $3000 per month which was abysmal for my views but my "community" seemed not very profitable for advertisers - and neither for myself as I even tried my most timid monetization attemps.
When Youtube banned me I had the idea to "make me own platform". And that's basically what we did. A friend (that I paid) and I programmed it for over 3 years - as we are perfectionalists ... and it basically flopped. Well it didn't flp completely, it's still running, but I don't have much sensible monetization so it's running at a loss. And I'm still wondering what I'm going to do with it at about 90K monthly visits or if I should scrap it altogether. However I did a small successful crowdfunding for it in 2018 - about $70,000. But I invested so much of my own money that I'm somewhat biased because of the sunken costs ...
II. The second layer: milieu
Not to use excuses but to paint a cohesive picture: I grew up in Eastern Germany. I only experienced the socialist DDR for 7 years but the socialist mindset is still rather prevalent in many. And even in Germany in general socialism rather flourishes than vanishes. Anyways so I was an "inventor" as far back as I can think inventing small gadgets, having scientific and process ideas, but I was always shut down by my parents especially by my father with exactly the verbal "strokes" that MJ gives in the Millionaire Fastlane "That probably already exists" or "Dream on" or "You and your crazy ideas again" and sarcastically "Yes, the world is surely waiting for YOUR ideas". And I have to say that my parents are loving people so I also didn't get the "benefit" to get energy from quarrelling with my dad.
I had nowhere to look to. There were no shiny cars, basically ZERO millionaires (even as of 2020: 94% of millionaires live in West Germany and many of the millionaires in Eastern Germany have come here from the west), no millionaire mindset mentors and very very few entrepreneurs. And those who are, are really not, but either self-employed / freelancers or outsourced employees or "financial advisors" / MLM, you know the drill. So really I had NO ONE among my friends, family, acquaintances, classmates, college friends who were NOT on the "Sidewalk" or the "Slowlane" (I don't know the exact english words I read the book in German). Literally no one.
Also there is hefty financial envy in Eastern Germany. So if your car is too nice and parking in the wrong (socialist) neighborhood at the wrong time, it might not be stolen but rather be burnt to "show the rich". I know it's different in Western Germany but that's not where I grew up. And nowadays it's getting worse over there too due to basically almost socialists in power at the moment.
But I'm getting sidetracked. I just wanted to explain why it was hard for me to even break free of this "live modest, pay taxes, retired at 67 into your state sponsored golden years" mindset. There was no wealth which could inspire me, no cars, no marvellous houses, no big donations to the city, no one even with a "Fastlane Mindset". Not 99% mediocracy - at least in my vicinity - literally everything I could see that was not fiction was mediocracy. And fiction was fiction, basically "those people don't exist and are scoundrels anyways".
I have to admit though that through my several relocations (I moved about 14 times, because "I never found what I was looking for") I could have probably gotten in contact with millionaires and business mentors. But as my mindset was not set on this I didn't even consider. Also I had no radar to differentiate between people on the "Fastlane" and scammers. And this was a real danger too because in Eastern Germany people were neither business nor scam savvy so there are a lot of "business men" whose business still simply is to scam people or to outsmart them. So I at least knew that I knew too little about business and could've become a scam victim.
III. First steps
Basically YouTube offered me a different perspective - in particular American entrepeneurial influencers like Patrick Bet David. Although I didn't get that much value from his practical advice I at least "started to believe".
Here in Germany, especially in Eastern Germany - there's also still an Anti-American sentiment present in some parts of the population, because of the ongoing military presence since WW2, "Ami go home" is the sentiment. I say this because as soon as I was exposed to "the real American way" I immediately was way more attracted to the "founding" American ideology, freedom of expression, freedom of business, freedom or death, capitalism, entrepreneurship, pride for the nation and pride in one's accomplishments than ANYTHING German school or media or for that matter my social circle had EVER offered me in this (cultural) regard. I can't speak as an expert on Western Germany but in Eastern Germany those ideals mentioned are almost all "foreign". But me, I was very attracted to the "American spirit of enterprise", so there was the first movement in my mindset.
So I started a YouTube channel while still working as a freelancer and attracted a sizable audience (not big for todays standards, but in 2015 100K for a patriotic German YouTube channel was huge), but I was a marketing noob and even worse in business. At first I had some decent CPM but later it dropped dramatically. This might have been due to Youtube or Advertisers being more picky on political content, so I relied on donations to have at least something to show for on the channel and to pay an editor. But mainly I did it for idealism.
Later I realized: If you want to change / do something in the world you need money. I know, groundbreaking. But you wouldn't guess that at least in "my" community it was at least partially frowned upon that I asked for donations frequently. Here is someone who gives away content for free that the audience seems to love - at least according to comments and likes - but still some people complain heavily that I'm asking for donations.
In hindsight this community might actually have not been very profitable at all. Imagine the 5% super worst customers of a company gathered in one community ... I'm partially joking they still kept the channel afloat and donated about $70.000 to my project, I'm thankful to those few. But the rest ...
And about the project I didn't deliver on time (overpromised, underdelivered) and basically got character assassinated by competitors in this already very small market.
IV. Starting all over
I realize a lot of the mistakes I made. But I'm still not 100% sure that I have the right mindset to get onto the "Fastlane". I had to learn a lot of stuff the hard way. And I have to admit that I often was my worst enemy too.
I'm 39 now, not the youngest anymore but there's still power left to try, to DO again. But I don't want to be as stupid again as I was before. I don't want to fall into the same or similar traps. I've learnt a lot but I haven't got the confidence to fully trust myself, because I regard the Social Media project as a big failure (because it was a big financial loss, about 150K of my own money), because I didn't realize that "the market" I was working for really was no market at all. I even tried to educate people that "we" as a community need to think economically to gather some power and influence. Looking back it's a bit embarrassing to have been so delusional about my own situation and my own (non-existent) "business" in this market.
That's why I read the book "Millionaire Fastlane" and am educating myself on business topics now. And that's why I joined this community.
I hope I am welcome here and will grow with you fine ladies and gentlemen. And I hope I can give you some value as well!
Cheers and thanks for reading!
Hagen G.
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